Camp Catfish Day 3...

With a fish fry in the bag due to the good luck the past two days at Camp Catfish we spent some time just sitting around camp, eating, cooking and some time drift fishing and learning to use the new electronics. 

I hate to tell you how much that white bass is per pound but I spotted some structure on the fish finder and some fish, threw out a marker buoy and caught this guy. Later on I caught a black bass. I see that for this kind of technique I am going to need another set of buoys since I only have one and it's so old it's filling with water and threatening to sink. I see that it might not be exact, the first mark but then another buoy or two to triangulate will help. This is not getting too scientific is it? I am usually out gathering fish not too much different from how the Neanderthals did it.  

Later my brother Glenn, Mary, Miguel, and Ezra joined me, Cathy and the Camp Catfish Proprietors Bill and Geneva and we had a nice cook out and fire sit around. 

One final note I was motoring up into the campground cove and there was a guy in a bass boat sitting there and he hollered at me "Hey, aren't you the tuba man?" It was an old high school class mate, Steve. That's one thing not crossed off the bucket list, playing the tuba in the boat. 

Might take today off from Camp Catfish today and since it looks like the white bass might be trying to spawn on the windy points of the lake that might be a plan of action tomorrow. 

Camp Catfish Day 2...

Day two at Camp Catfish was cold with a light north wind. Did not keep us off the water. 

Pop lands a fish. 

Catfish were running a bit small and same as yesterday there were a lot of throw backs but we managed 25 keepers. 

Pop scores again. 

As if the fish really stood a chance here is a new sonar that was my birthday present. I think that blob on the lake bottom is one of those Texas Parks and Wildlife artificial reefs that is sunk at the mouth of the Hanks Creek boat ramp cove. Only problem with this new technology is that after locating this sunken item I pushed a bunch of buttons and could not get this view again. The user manual will be my bed time reading tonight. 

Camp Catfish Day 1...

Pop and Geneva have brought their camper to Hanks Creek. Looks like fishing in store for the next few days. Here's the set up. We dropped the boat at their camp site for the duration. This time last year this spot was underwater. 

Age range of the fisherman was 2 to 88. 

It was certainly a gray day with wind from the north a a nice but not dangerous chop on the water. Lots of gulls and the occasional white pelican and speeding bass boat flew by. The birds wondered what we were doing and the bass boats thought of us not at all. 

The catfish thought of us also and wanted in the boat. 

Lot of small ones today. I think I personally threw back as many as I kept and Mary held big fish honors for a few moments till Cathy shoved her off the score board.   

Them that caught the least have to clean. 

Total score of keepers was 15. We go again tomorrow. Hopefully clearing skies and high pressure don't give them the lock jaw. 

Ladysmith Black Mambazo...

Last night the Angelina Arts Alliance featured a concert by the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The group is accapella, performing the traditional music of the Zulu people. They formed in 1960 after the sounds of the close vocal harmonies appeared to founder Joseph Shabalala in dreams. The name comes from Shabalala's hometown, Ladysmith, the black ox, the strongest farm animal and mambazo which means ax and is symbolic of the choir's ability to chop down the competition in the vocal contests they entered in the early years of the group.  

This group has won five Grammy Awards and most famously became known from a collaboration with Paul Simon on his album Graceland. In addition to the fine singing there is a lot of dancing and movement to the show.   

Birds...

Usually I like a little duck hunting every year. Hunting ducks on an old slough is a family tradition and I would like to keep it going but seems I have not been all that mad at them the past couple of years to try and kill any. Last year was also a flood year which probably had my favorite places under 5 foot of water and this year the big catfish are biting. Also being another year older makes the secondaries to duck hunting which are lost, stuck, drunk, wet, broke down, and frozen less appealing. Maybe when the grandchildren are old enough to be my handlers on these type misadventures I will be more enthusiastic to go. 

What me and Cathy did do was walk the trail around Ellen Trout Lake. We called it exercise and being in shape is important for outdoor adventures whether reeling in big cats or trudging through the woods loaded with shotgun and waders which can be taxing for a fat boy like me. Cathy did a steady walk which is good but given the presence of birds I often stopped for photos. 

Here we have a snowy egret perched on the fishing dock. He's fishing and I am making a resolution to take my canoe to fish this lake sometime this spring. Signs warn of alligators but they are in the big lakes where I fish so big deal.  

Another egret. 

This old city lake, which used to be a place of Sunday water skiing in the 50s and 60s and as I recall had a ski jump ramp at one time is a stop over for migrating birds. I believe these are northen shovelers. May have come down from as far north as Alaska. They are filter feeders taking in water to get seeds, grasses and small water critters then jetting it out the base of the wide bill. 

Bottoms up. 

Turtles and cormorants. 

Lot going on here. Cormorants, blue heron and turtles. 

Canvas backs rafted up on the lake. They know just what shotgun range is and keep that distance between you. There are some tame ducks in the zoo but I believe these guys are all wild on the lake. Probably visiting from Alaska, Nebraska or Minnesota. 

The Zoo area is a great place in our city and judging from a article in this morning's paper on the "State of the City" we can look for more trails, bike lanes and outdoor areas in the future.